The best and brightest from this week's Army Times

The Pentagon’s top brass has agreed to adopt widespread use of “360-degree” reviews for officers across all military services in the most far-reaching effort yet to root out “toxic leaders” before they reach senior ranks.

Exactly how each service will institutionalize the controversial evaluation tool remains to be seen. Each is studying the issue and will draft its own plan to draw evaluations not only from superiors in the chain of command but also from peers and subordinates. The aim: to provide a complete picture of an individual’s strengths and weaknesses as seen from every angle in the chain of command.

Reclass now – and save your career

A new program gives senior commanders the authority to re-enlist some soldiers in overstrength military occupational specialties who otherwise may reclassify or leave the Army.

The Commanders Allocation Process is a prime example of how commanders will continue to play a critical role in the re-enlistment process during a drawdown that is expected to see the Regular Army shrink by another 50,000 soldiers in four years.

The program is targeted at junior enlisted soldiers in specialties identified as overstrength in the in/out reclassification calls.

The targeted MOSs include nine combat arms, combat support and combat service support fields.

Guardsmen on hold: 95,000 will not deploy

Almost 9,500 Army National Guard soldiers have been off-ramped from overseas deployments in fiscal 2013 and 2014, raising concerns among the Guard and its advocates that the reserve component will be left out as the Army transitions from 12 years of war amid ongoing budget cuts.

About 41 Army Guard units have been off-ramped from missions in places such as the Horn of Africa, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Kuwait and the Sinai, said Rick Breitenfeldt, a National Guard Bureau spokesman. This included Security Forces Assistance Teams from the 79th Brigade Combat Team fromCalifornia and two battalions from the Indiana National Guard, he said.